Country: Lebanon
Director: Chadi Hazime
Length: 18 mins
Synopsis: After Hilton’s door had been closed for many years, the light was finally seen when the director decided to send a public invitation to watch his Big Show inside the ancient art shelter “”Hilton Cinema – Al-Mreijeh District””. As soon as the show began, he was surprised by another realistic show, to explore the past and history of Hilton Cinema, which was the silent witness to many of the harsh circumstances that occurred in this region
FILMS//أفلام
Memory’s Consolation//في عزاء الذاكرة
Mutts (Clebs)//كلب
Country: Canada, Morocco
Director: Halima Ouardiri
Length: 18 mins
Synopsis: The animals’ brown, beige, white and black coats blend into the ochre earth and sunbaked walls. After the calm of rest hour, a deafening cacophony breaks out at feeding time, as the dogs bark excitedly. In a stray-dog refuge in Agadir, Morocco, more than 750 animals find help and protection while awaiting adoption. Each day is the same as the last, the only excitement provided by mealtime. Empathetic and alert to subtleties of light and texture, Halima Ouardiri observes the rhythm of the animals’ lives, their suspended existence paralleling the far more tragic waiting endured by millions of human beings in search of a new home.
Nightfall//الشفق
Country: France
Director: Roméo De Melo Martins
Length: 26 mins
Synopsis: On the 13th of July 2011, during a demonstration against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, the Syrian authorities arrest several intellectuals and artists. Among them, Ali Abou Georges, theater actor. After a night of interrogation, he is taken to the office of General Omar, the head of the Syrian intelligence service.
No Key
Country: Morocco
Director: Walid Messnaoui
Length: 22 mins
Synopsis: Two young thieves find a sealed jewelry box that becomes the envy of rival gangs.
Nour//نور
Country: Tunisia
Director: Rim Nakhli
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: Nour and Adem set off to look for their father, whom they haven’t seen for a long time. The two of them cross the city to the rendez-vous, but their father fails to show up.
Noura’s Dream//نورة تحلم
Country: Tunisia
Director: Hinde Boujemaa
Length: 92 mins
Synopsis: In the Arab world, we sing about love. From Om Kalthoum to Berber songs, women and men sing of love: its griefs and jealousies, its joys and hopes and romance. But when it comes to the embodiment of this love, the enactment of desire, taboo raises its head and love becomes a sin. With her abusive husband in jail and a coveted divorce pending, hardworking Noura can almost grasp a happy, new life with lover Lassaad – but when the best-laid plans are upended, Noura must tap her unshakable will to fulfill her dream.
Nur El Qulub//نورالقلوب
Country: Canada
Director: Sawsan Alsaraf
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: Nur Al Qulub is an exploration of the spiritual dimension of shadow and light. Drawing from the director’s experiences as the end-of-life support person for many near and dear people in her life, this project seeks to ask questions about spiritual truth, transitions, and the unknown. Dwelling on the threshold of spaces of darkness leading to the light, shadow work and discomfort, and the material and the spiritual, Nur Al Qulub references AlSaraf’s deepest realizations around the meaning of life – and death.
Off-Season Tourists
Country: Tunisia
Director: Maher Hasnaoui
Length: 30 mins
Synopsis: In 2010, after the state crisis in Ivory Coast, Hervé decides to leave his country. Once he arrives in Tunisia, he must face a reality he never imagined and dreaming of a better life becomes his daily challenge.
Olive Planet//كوكب الزيتون
Country: Germany
Director: Shehab Fatoum
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Jihad, who dreams of becoming a footballer on Oliver Planet, decides to stand by the uprising against the government and the army, but of course secretly.
On the Sidelines
Country: France
Director: Kahina Ben Amar
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: Amra recently left her family to make her professional football debut. But her grandparents who raised her aren’t young anymore, and she isn’t sure her younger sister is trustworthy. Worried, she comes back to her family for a weekend.
One Leg In, One Leg Out
Country: Canada
Director: Lisa Rideout
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: After a decade as a sex worker, Iman attempts to pursue her dream of becoming a social worker to help her transgender community members. As she explores the option of going back to college, One Leg In, One Leg Out questions whether tenacity, ambition and a life long dream are enough to overcome a challenging personal situation.
One Of Us Left The Photo//أحدنا غادر الصورة
Country: Syria
Director: Malas Twins
Length: 16 mins
Synopsis: A Syrian refugee lives in France with his French woman. His twin brother, pro the Syrian regime, arrives unexpectedly from Syria and lives with them in the same house.
Osha//عوشة
Country: United Arab Emirates
Director: Rasha Amer
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: This short documentary follows a mother (Aysha) and daughter (Osha) as they travel through the desert hunting with falcons, the traditional Emirati method that has been passed down through the generations.
Over Time
Country: Canada
Director: Mariam Zaidi
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: Through Shafiq, a ride-share driver and resident of Regent Park, we get a glimpse into one of the fastest changing industries and neighbourhoods in Toronto today.
Pacific
Country: Belgium, Lebanon
Director: Angie Obeid
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: Whenever I walk through the dark reddish hallways to reach my apartment, whenever I would look out of my windows and dive into that expended view of the city of Brussels, unusual feelings would emerge. Until the day I read an article about my building PACIFIC, entitled “the suicide tower”.
Paradiso, XXXI, 108
Country: Palestine, Germany
Director: Kamal Aljafari
Length: 19 mins
Synopsis: Nothing can be heard anymore; the roar of our plane absorbs every other sound. We are heading straight to the world’s biggest display of soundproof fireworks, and soon we will drop our bombs.
Razzia//غزية
Country: Morocco
Director: Nabil Ayouch
Length: 119 mins
Synopsis: Casablanca: vibrant and rough, inviting yet unforgiving. Four souls in search of truth, thirty years after a passionate teacher in the Atlas Mountains was put to silence… Through the echo of his shattered dreams, the disillusions of the four characters embody the sparks that will light the city in flames.
This film is not suitable for children.
Roadblock//حاجز
Country: France, Lebanon
Director: Dahlia Nemlich
Length: 16 mins
Synopsis: Beirut 2019 – During the Revolution. On her way back from a protest, Farah, a young Lebanese woman and her French – Lebanese boyfriend, Anthony, are stopped at a roadblock held by two armed militiamen who have a bone to pick with Farah.
Roujoula//رجولة
Country: France, Morocco
Length: 22 min
Director: Ilias El Faris
Synopsis: In Casablanca, Eid-Al-Adha is around the corner. Imad, who sells hacked DVDs in the streets, doesn’t manage to earn enough money to buy the sacrificial sheep. The perfect excuse to take advantage of his studious little brother, forcing him to become a parking attendant, not realizing that he is giving Fayçal the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge.
Rupture//رابتشير
Country: Canada, Jordan
Director: Yassmina Karajah
Length: 18 mins
Synopsis: Rupture follows the journey of four Arab teens on their quest to find a public pool in their new city on a hot summer’s day. Introducing a cast of first time actors and war survivors who channel their personal experiences of loss and new beginnings through a fictional narrative.